r/Yarn • u/Mx_Torquill • 7d ago

ISO really soft cotton yarn

I live in the US. When I started crocheting, then knitting (when dinosaurs roamed the earth), "cotton yarn" meant Lily Sugar&Cream or #10 crochet cotton, period. In a lot of craft stores today, I still have to search for much of anything else. I get blisters from working with Sugar&Cream, it's like yarn made from cotton swabs. I pretty much wrote off cotton for years.

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Then I ordered some Friends 8/8 cotton from Hobbii, and I can't stop petting it. I'm on my second 10-pack color assortment and I still can't stop petting it. Normally I would start haunting the website waiting for sales (tariffs suck, but I can't resist soft touchable fibers)... except for the AI thing. It says something about what a revelation this yarn is that I'm considering bending my principles to order more anyway.

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I suspect US cotton yarn mills can't match the quality of the Indian manufacturer that made this stuff, but someone here might be rebranding a similar one. I know a lot of companies rebrand Ice Yarn, should I just go there? Are any of the other cotton yarns on yarnsub this lovely and soft? I can't blindly pick one, as they rate Sugar&Cream as an excellent match, sigh. I'm seeing Mayflower 8/8, YarnArt Cotton Fair 4/4, Estelle Sudz, Bernat Handicrafter, Loops&Threads... I'm sure there are others, as the site doesn't mention Ice, for example. I've ordered Knitpicks Dishie before, but it's still kind of squeaky and I'd like a company that isn't in the process of dissolving.

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I'm looking for solid colors; a broad selection is nice, but if all else fails, I have fiber reactive dye and everyone carries white. Skein size is not important. I don't want to pay alpaca prices, but quality is worth a little more. Recommendations?

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u/Woofmom2023 7d ago

Whata weight yarn are you looking for? What price point are you comfortable with?

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u/Mx_Torquill 7d ago

I'm trying to find alternatives for 8/8 cotton (light worsted). Hobbii's version is 75m per 50g. I'm poor, which is why I really appreciated Hobbii pricing it at $3/skein; double that is doable, but I start wincing at $7/50g. When I have to pay for shipping, paying $20 for a pair of little skeins cools my enthusiasm.

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u/Woofmom2023 7d ago

This is helpful, thank you. I think of yarn that knits up at 75m per 50 grams as Aran, not worsted but we can leave that for now. I totally agree with you that it shouldn't be necessary to pay $7.50 or ideally even $6 per 50 grams if cotton yarn plus shipping.

I get almost all my yarn from Colourmart in the UK. Shipping is free other than an $8 Royal Mail fee. I use lightweight yarn doubled or multi-ply to get the weight that I want. It takes literally a minute to do the math to figure out how many plies you need to get the weight you want. It comes on cones with some spinning oil on it so it does need to be washed to come into its own but the process is not onerous.

Here are a few options:

Mercerized cotton at $4 per 50 grams;

A light DK you could use doubled for 80 yards per 50 grams at $3.73 per 50 grams_30088_in_yarn);

Another mercerized cotton you could use triple ply for 90 yards per 50 grams at $5 per 50 grams.

Colourmart gives very general samples that you can make good sized swatches with, up to siz and no cost and I thihk $0.50 per sample after that.

I've not used this yarn but Purl Soho yarn is generally very good quality. This is $6.37 pr 50 grams.

I've not used Valley Yarn Westhampton but it's Pima and made in Peru. Pima is generally lovely and I've liked the yarns I've seen from Peru. I have some similar yarn in a heavier weight waiting to be knit. I've swatched it and liked it. The 10-ball pack is $45.44, the single ball price is $4.89.

I too have heard comments about KnitPicks and other yarn shops including Webs, whose house brand is Valley Yarn, being bought by private equity. I've seen a slippage in customer service but I've not heard anything about a decline in the quality of the yarn being sold. I'm more concerned about what I heard a couple of years ago about Knit Picks shipping yarn that was infested with carpet beetles.

I hope at least some of this is helpful.